Video Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySVjriDir1k

Cover

This chapter focuses on the summoning of the Five Elder Planets, something that is reflected in the chapter’s title. Chapter 1110 is called “Kousei” in Japanese, which is a term that refers to “falling star”, as in a comet, though more largely it can also be taken as the concept of the very sky itself falling down upon us. This is a pun, because Five Elder Planets, or “Gorousei”, uses the term “sei”, which refers to a celestial body. This word can be used for planet, but also for star, which is the reason why the Five Elder Planets are commonly mistranslated as the “Five Elder Stars”. Thus “falling star” here in Japanese would be “falling planet” since it’s all the same word anyway. Even in English, a falling star isn’t really an actual star, it’s just a meteorite, so even in English you can see the intent behind the title. Essentially, the title refers to the Five Elder Planets dropping like comets to our world, landing with the impact that a meteorite would have.

On this week’s cover story, we are revealed that the subject of this new cover story will indeed be none other than Yamato! The Cover Serial is called “Child of Oni Yamato’s Shrine Pilgrimage”, specifically referring to a pilgrimage among Japanese temples of a region to pay respects to the dead, so we may see Yamato visiting different temples across Wano and paying respects to Oden and the other fallen warriors, which is also an exciting prospect as it may build for the possibility for Yamato eventually having to leave Wano to one day rejoin with the Straw Hats, whether that’s within this cover story or simply being set up for the final conflict in the future.

Five Elder Planet Numbers

At last, the Five Elder Planets fall upon us like comets, as several dark silhouettes arise from among the Satanic circles. Saturn’s circle had the number 5 whereas Mars’s circle instead has the number 4. If you look further, you can also see that Warcury’s circle has the number 3, whereas Nasujuro’s circle has the number 2. By logic then, Juu Peter can only be Number 1. This order is actually fitting because it’s the exact order in which they first appeared during their first appearance in Jaya, as well as the same order that Oda introduced them when he first revealed his names, and also the same order in which he introduced their powers in this chapter. But when you think about it, the fact they are numbered makes a lot of sense. Last week I presented the idea that the Gorosei are all satellites of Imu, just like how Vegapunk cloned himself into 6 satellites. And we know the satellites are all numbered as Punk01, Punk02, Punk03, Punk04, Punk05, and Punk06. So the fact that they have a specific numbered order would suggest that it may very well be the case that they are Satellites of Imu just like Vegapunk’s.

It’s also worth mentioning the writings on the demonic circles, which resemble those of a poneglyph, but appear to be a slightly different writing, which is interesting to think of another alphabet that exists in this world, so demonic and so ancient that it’s been forgotten to time. These creepy figures all appear to bear a lack of form and similar ringed eyes, which share a deep similarity with Imu’s eye at this point, once again suggesting the possibility that they may all be extensions of Imu like we discussed last week. Imu usually has two eye rings, but we’ve seen these shift in number before so even one eye ring here still resembles it.

In a stunning double spread page we finally get all of their designs in detail! This is the first full double page spread since Chapter 800, almost an entire decade ago, which have become a lot more uncommon in the post-timeskip, a fitting return for such an iconic moment. All of them appear in their fully transformed forms and with awakening clouds on their back, so let’s break each of them down one by one. All of the Five Elders are based on demons and demonic creatures from different mythologies; there is a misconception that all of them are exclusively based on Japanese yokai demons, but as we’ll soon see that only extends to about a couple of them, with several of the others being based on devilish creatures from different global mythologies, though they all share the common trait of being based on demonic beings.

5 – Gyuuki Saturn

For starters, just as a refresher, as we had discussed before St. Jaygarcia Saturn is indeed based on the Gyuuki, a yokai of Japanese myth that is a spider with the horns and build of a cow and the face of a demon. The Gyuuki, which literally translates to “cow demon”, is generally known for two types of powers: for one, it is able to produce deadly poisons, which are deadly to humans; this is something we see in action with the poison found at the end of its legs just recently, which melted anything in its path. The other is the power to hurt one’s soul with simply a gaze, which in One Piece has been translated with the power of being able to hurt others with his gaze. The regeneration isn’t a trait of the Gyuuki, so it likely is a trait shared among all the Gorosei separately.

4 – Itsumade Mars

St. Marcus Mars is the other Gorosei whose power is based on a Japanese yokai. He transforms into an Itsumade, a yokai which possesses the traits of a bird but the torso and thus tail of a snake, as we can see here as drawn by Oda. The itsumade is further described as having sharp talons that can easily tear through flesh, and a grotesque face with a beak of saw-like teeth that can resemble that of a human. Since Mars here appears very bird-like when fully transformed, it’s possible the more human face of the legend may be more visible once he transforms into his hybrid form. The myth says that this creature would appear during epidemics and other times of suffering, haunting the skies of human cities by screaming “Itsumade? Itsumade?” which means “until when?”, as in until when will the suffering continue, having been born as a form incarnate of the suffering of the dead. It was ultimately slain by a local hero, Mayumi Hirorari, who shot it down with the expertise of his bow.

In this case Mars, transformed into his full beast Itsumade, flies up to the skies to the Labophase and charges against its frontier dome. Since the Gorosei can endlessly regenerate, then perhaps he’ll force himself through the laser barrier even if it destroys his body, since after all he only needs to regenerate after, allowing him to attack the Labophase and potentially Vegapunk’s laboratory from where the transmission is coming, making him a grave threat. And let’s not forget that Kaku, York, and the Seraphim are all still in the laboratory as well, so if the latter are given orders that could present a lot of havoc as well. Usopp was able to stop the Sunny from falling off, but they need to get out of there right now.

Zoro’s Attack

Realizing the imminent threat, Sanji urges Jinbe to get Zoro out of there, and in doing so mentions the magic words, that “Lucci is holding Zoro up”. These are word by word the same words that Nami used a few chapters ago and that sent the community in a frenzy by panicking about Zoro being “held up” by Lucci, and so Sanji echoing those words here can be seen as a bit of a fourth wall break, as Zoro twitches at the slander and decides to end the fight in one attack.

Lucci tries to use a move called Shugan Madara, which is a combination of his Shigan Madara technique (Finger Gun: Leopard Spots), using shigan to pierce with a finger several times like in a Gomu Gomu no Gatling, with his advanced move Shugan (Hand Gun), which is a shigan that applies to his whole hand using all five fingers at the same time. Zoro however strikes back with a move called Santoryu, or Three Sword Style, Kokoba Madaragari. This is a continuation of his “Gari”, or “Hunt”, series of attacks. His first move was Tora Gari, or Tiger Hunt, which was then powered up to Ul-Tora Gari, or Ultra Tiger Hunt. Then he had Karasuma Gari, or Demonic Crow Hunt. And finally here we have Kokoba Madaragari. Kokoba refers to one of the Buddhist Hells, associated with the animal of the tiger, thus continuing the theming from Tiger Hunt and Zoro’s larger theming behind his attacks and Buddhism afterlife. “Madara” instead refers to the spots of a leopard, meaning that Zoro is poking fun at Lucci’s “madara” move, referring to leopard spots, by hunting down a leopard himself. Thus the attack could be translated as “Tiger Hell, Spotted Leopard Hunt”.

3 – Feng Xi Warcury

Moving back to the Gorosei, St. Topman Warcury is instead based on the Feng Xi, a demonic boar of Chinese mythology. In Japanese it is called the “houki”, though this is simply the Japanese reading of this creature of Chinese myth. The Feng Xi, translating to “Swine Seal”, is described as a colossal demonic boar or swine-like creature of massive proportions. It bears four large tusks (sometimes even more depending on the myth), and its very body is clad in fire, able to set things ablaze and burn entire villages. In the case of Warcury, we can see how Oda played with his large mustache by turning it into large tusks, of which there seem to be four in total just like in the myth. Even his birthmarks on his head seem to have been adapted into the pattern of his boar-like skin.

4 – Skeleton Horse Nasujuro

Next. St. Ethanbaron V. Nasujuro can transform into the Death Horse. In Japanese it is called by the translated name of “Bakotsu”, which literally means “Skeleton Horse” and widely refers to the skeletal horses from different mythologies. There is technically a fairly obscure yokai that is called “skeleton horse” or “bakotsu”, but in this case Oda seems to have been more inspired more largely by the depiction of the skeleton horse in several mythologies. Also known as the Death Horse, the Pale Horse, Reaper Horse, or quite simply “Skeleton Horse”, Oda seems to have based it off mostly off of the pale horse of death, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse in European myth, often depicted as a skeletal horse with its head covered in drapes, the harbinger of death itself.

However, we also see Nasujurou transforming into his hybrid form, where he turns into a centaur, allowing the top half of his body to look human and wield a sword. He uses his horse legs to quickly dash across the battlefield and slash every Pacifista, decomissioning them in one shot and freezing half of the entire army in mere seconds. Interestingly, the Pacifista appear to freeze and fall down but while the blade went through their body, they don’t seem to have been sliced clean, instead having been sliced while still retaining their bodies. There also appears to be a cloud of cold drawn around the slash, something reinforced by later Marines saying the Pacifista were frozen. This allows the Gorosei to decommission the Pacifista without breaking them so they can still use them at a later date. This would make sense, as much like how Brook’s fruit allows him to draw forth the chill of the Underworld, it makes sense that the pale horse of death would be able to draw from the underworld as well and freeze its opponents.

An interesting detail as well is that we can also see Nasujurou’s blade clad in haki, as it becomes a black bade momentarily, even if when draw in the past (Chapter 594, for example) it looked like a normal blade. Speaking of which, in case you didn’t know, Nasujurou’s blade bears the iconic hilt of the Kitetsu line of swords, the same line to which Zoro’s Sandai Kitetsu belongs, being the third iteration in the line. Thus many fans have speculated that this sword could be the Shodai Kitetsu, said to be the original of the cursed sword line and one of the Saijo O Wazamono, the twelve strongest blades in the world, standing on the same level as Mihawk’s Yoru, Whitebeard’s Murakumogiri, and Roger’s Ace. So it would make a lot of sense that one of the Gorosei, being such a mighty warrior, would bear this historical blade, one of the greatest ever forged.

1 – Sandworm Juu Peter

And finally, the last of the Gorosei, St. Shepherd Juu Peter, can transform into the Sandworm. The Sandworm is a creature that has similarly existed in different mythologies, though its more prevalent depiction is the Death Worm, a demonic creature of Mongolian mythology said to have prowled the sands of the Gobi Desert since times of old. The Sandworm however has been more widely adopted in modern mythology through its interpretation in the classic fiction novel of Dune by Frank Herbert, who cited dragons and myths of other demonic worms and wyrms having inspired what is the modern interpretation of the sandworm.

Sandworms, even beyond the alien setting of Dune, are depicted as worms of colossal proportions. Its depiction here in One Piece seems to be quite similar to that of the original depiction of the Sandworm of Dune, who unlike its future movie counterparts, had a mouth enclosed by four lids, which open to show a large mouth beneath. In the original Mongolian myth, sandworms are incredibly poisonous, able to cause death upon the mere touch, which could potentially apply here. And in its modern depictions, they have the ability to burrow underground like real worms, but due to their colossal size, they are able to dig gigantic tunnels and move about at terrifying speeds, meaning that they can strike at any time from anywhere. The fact he burrows into the ground as a worm is quite fitting for the Gorosei that is the Wargod of Agriculture, quite literally tending to the soil.

In this case we see it in action by burrowing into the ground and suddenly appearing to swallow Luffy. However, Dorry and Brogy slice clean through Juu Peter, though this won’t amount to much since he can likely regenerate like the other Gorosei. The move they use is called “Taiyou Noko” which translates to Sun Saw, or Solar Saw, essentially cutting in the shape of a sun. However this is unsurprisingly a pun, as “Taiyou no Ko” can also be read as “Child of the Sun”, referring to Luffy himself, the Sun God. This entire scene is a callback to the first encounter between Luffy and Dorry, where Luffy was swallowed by a Brontosaurus, but Dorry cut his neck off, allowing Luffy to pop out.

The true nature of the Gorosei

When comparing the silhouettes of the Gorosei in chapter 1085 with the present, we can clearly see how they match. We can spot Saturn’s horns, as well as the outline of his spider legs, Mars’s wings, and Warcury’s boar tusks. Nasujurou appeared to be humanoid, but this is because he was likely in his hybrid form, with only the top half of his centaur body being visible. Similarly, Juu Peter was mistaken by a lot of people to be the figure above, who is actually in reality Imu, due to not being particularly visible in this shot, but this is because, as a worm, he was underground, so it makes sense why he wasn’t as visible. And in the next shot, Juu Peter appeared with an open mouth, which makes sense being a sandworm, though this could even potentially be his hybrid form or something.

Yet for how cool all of these forms may seem, there is one key aspect about them that may pose yet another reveal of series-changing proportions. And that is the name of their devil fruits, because, as an example, the name of Saturn’s fruit is the… “Gyuuki”. That’s it. There is no Kumo Kumo no Mi Model, or Spider Spider Fruit, he’s just a “Gyuuki”, quite literally just… a devil.

Now you could argue that maybe Oda felt lazy and he just wanted to give the names of the creatures they are based on rather than their devil fruit names, but I still find that to be too unlikely. Why would Oda not bother giving the full name of the fruit when he already had the text boxes in place, there is literally no reason to omit the “Kumo Kumo no Mi, Mythical Model” part from the text boxes, instead of just putting their names. Which would indicate that their powers do not have “fruit” as a part of them, meaning that they most likely not devil fruit users, but in fact real devils.

This is something that has been speculated for a long while in the fandom, but now may very well be turning out to be reality. A counterpoint to this argument is the fact that in spite of this, the Gorosei still appear to follow the traditional laws of Zoan users: they have a cloud scarf around their necks, which is a symbol of a transformed awakened Zoan. They appear to have their human forms but also their hybrid forms and full-beast forms, which we’ve already seen for both Nasujurou and Saturn. But think about it this way: what if the Gorosei have these forms not because they are devil fruit users, but what if devil fruit users were modeled after these forms. Their powers aren’t normal to begin with, they can literally summon each other, have inifinite regeneration, and beyond their Zoan forms they have these dark blob forms that resemble those that Imu transformed into. After all, with Imu being widely speculated to be the origin of devil fruits, it would make sense he would confer the Gorosei special powers. And that the devil fruits are way to replicate this devil powers, but instead in the forms of fruits which grant these powers but in a more restricted form.

Seeing this demonic sight in full detail, it’s evident: these are devils, extensions of Imu and demonic beings that stand at the top of the world and manipulate it to the creator’s will. The more we learn about the Gorosei, the more we learn about Imu and the larger mysteries of the story. It’s just as Sabo himself said: Who knew that hell was located at the top of the world?